Two Things

There are some things I will never become accustomed to, no matter how often I experience them. Like receiving a gift just because, or becoming violently ill. Both of these happened since my last post, by the way. Just thought I’d clarify.

The gifts came first.

One of the girls on my floor is pretty sensitive to people with dietary needs.  Her fiancé has a fairly limited diet, so that paired with her own struggles leaves her with a tender heart.  We shared concerns and tricks of the special food trade late into the night recently.  A few days after our talk, I came back to my room to find two cartons of berries on my desk. No note, no explanation, until another girl told me who had left them. It made my day.

The week turned into the weekend.  Saturday morning, Bekah, my roommate, asks, “Have you checked your mailbox recently?”

“No. Should I?”

“You should probably do that.”

Now, I don’t know if you have ever heard of the Giving Keys, but they’re a charitable organization that seeks to provide work for homeless men. A few people at school have the key necklaces they make.  Each key is unique, engraved with a word that is significant to you.  The cool part? When you meet someone who needs your word more than you do, you give it to them.

I wanted one. A lot. Specifically, a gold one with the word “abide” engraved in it.  Because abiding is so much more than just staying or living.  It’s actively choosing to stand in something, to continuously dwell. For me, it carries the weight of daily deciding to rest in God’s love, contentedly defined by Him. Anyway, the keys aren’t cheap and like the penny pincher I am, I didn’t buy one.

But Bekah did.  And it was waiting in my mailbox.  I’ll let you imagine my water works.

All of this gave way to violent illness this morning. I mean, violent. It was reminiscent of food poisoning in the Philippines—you know, that time I ate faux-hamburger and nearly died, then ate it again just to make sure and experienced the whole thing for a second time.  Well either Denny’s did me a dirty or I had a killer stomach virus.

Even in this sickness, though, I’m content. A couple of my friends have taken turns stopping in. Gracie and I got to talk on the phone. I slept more today than I’ve slept in weeks. And I’m okay with it.

Eating Skyflakes

I thought I was dying this morning. Obviously I lived, but I prayed like I was dying, too.  The pain in my stomach left me twisting in agony. Then it was over.  I am left drained and apprehensive of all food except water or skyflakes.  Despite being under the weather, I have to thoughts I want to share in this post.

One: I am amazed in the little ways God's creation points us to Him. Yesterday, I was able to spend some time alone in the sun under a coconut tree (which is actually a bad idea, considering that one could fall on my head at any time).  In a moment of clarity, I understood another correlation between Christ and our daytime light, the sun. I marveled over God's design of our largest visible organ and it's function to protect us, but also to absorb Vitamin D from the sun.  That vitamin, by the way, is the number one depression fighter and a deficiency in it can cause a host of problems in our flesh. By the same token, our epidermis is visibly changed when it has spent time in the sunshine.  You know when someone spends time outside.  Their complexion tells you.  All of these things should apply to the effect the Son has on us.  Not only is He our light, not only is He necessary for our daily health and wellbeing, we should be visibly changed when we spend time in His light.  It should be obvious to the world that Jesus Christ has marked you as His.

Two (and completely unrelated): Yesterday also found me playing a facial battle with two village boys.  Their faces were elastic and their raucous laughter at the faces I pulled warmed my heart.  Anyone else probably would have snapped a picture of their precious  expressions as they peaked around a corner.  I couldn't do it.  In fact, my photographs of people here are incredibly limited.  Something inside of me is totally okay with snapping pictures of flowers and wildlife, but feels equally invasive of a person's privacy when I think to take a picture of them.  They're people, you know? I take pictures of trees without asking, but a person should have the right to say yes or no.  The language barrier means I can't ask.  No one comes near enough for me to show them my phone and explain.  I don't know if my apprehension is right, but I know if a stranger took pictures of me without asking, I would be upset.

Those are my thoughts. And, currently, they're all I've got.